Stars of Light
by krenya-alenak
Summary: Rougea's brother has been replaced by something. The Labyrinth is being ruled by a monster. Can she escape?


Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or the idea of Jareth being a Fae. Rougea is mine.

Chapter 1

Escape

Rougea ran into her room and collapsed on her bed, sobbing. Her brother's words still echoed in her mind. How could he? Tears fell from her eyes with wrenching sobs, until finally, every last one was wrung from her.

She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her hand. She sat up and looked despondently around the room. The mirror shone in the daylight. Her brother had bought the exquisite mahogany frame from the elves, carved for Rougea with majestic maples, their twining branches reaching into the clouds where raptors soared. He had made the glass himself, an iridescent piece of his magic. It had been for her entertainment as a child; she could still, if she chose, order it to show her any part of the world, any story—or their parents.

Rougea shook her head. The brother who had given her that mirror to make her smile was replaced by a monster.

Rougea breathed deeply, shudderingly. Her breath steadied as she glanced around the room. None of his orbs were there, thankfully. But, wait—

The window stood open. Of course. She could be free. Rougea walked over to the window. Hesitantly, she reached out to open it completely. Her hand struck solid air. She screamed, hitting it, but it remained firm. She rubbed her throbbing fist, and she swallowed deeply. He hadn't just trapped her mentally; now he had her trapped physically as well.

Or did he? Rougea went to the door, and she tried it. It was not locked. Maybe, maybe there was a chance….

Nightfall saw a single figure creep out of a servant door, glancing furtively about. The girl darted across the twilit lawn, to the shadows of a massive oak. She sighed, brushing a stray strand of dark brown hair from her face. She climbed up the tree, thankful that she had chosen to wear her pants and shirt instead of one of her dresses. She swung up to sit on a branch, and shrank into her own bird form. She swooped down, and beating hard against the cooling air, she rose.

She collided with that solid air, and she fumbled, losing air and height. She bit back a screech and circled to the lawn. She looked up at the windows; no one was visible. Rougea shifted back to her true form, and she patted her pained head ruefully.

'This can't be it. I can't be trapped here.' She sighed. 'But I am. Trapped in my own home. By my own brother.'

She felt tears threatening again, but Rougea blinked, then scrubbed them vigorously from her eyes. She stood and started walking around the lawn, looking desperately, hopelessly, at every corner, every shadow. No, they kept the kingdom in too good a shape for anyone to escape easily. And now that he had placed a shield to keep her from flying out, it was even harder.

"But why? Why not just lock me in my room?" Rougea thought back, over the open window, the open doors and empty halls, the blank windows watching her aborted flight.

'He's toying with me.' Rougea stopped beside of the pond, the rumble of its waterfall breaking into her thoughts. She stepped back as her breath caught in her throat.

'He is toying with me.'

Her brother used to tease Rougea about her one fear—water. And in return, she'd tease him about being afraid of getting sunburned. It had always been a paltry reply, but he had humored her by pretending fear and laughing with her. Neither of them knew why she was afraid of water. Maybe it was an aversion to something that would hinder her flight, though it was not a fear for him. A long forgotten childhood experience, a phobia, they never knew. But Rougea always avoided water deeper than a quarter of her arm's length.

And that monster, sitting on her brother's throne, probably watching through one of his crystals, knew that.

Rougea eyed the waterfall. She knew about the underground stream behind it. Her brother had used that way as a child to enter and exit the castle grounds without their parents' knowledge. Rougea, of course, had never seen it.

Her throat tightened, and her hands started going clammy and damp. She stepped back further, her eyes fixed on the water darkening in the dying light of day. She tore her gaze away, towards the walls.

No one was watching her, physically. She could hear the faint song of one of his crystals nearby. But that couldn't be helped. So what if he was watching her, laughing at her quandary. Every way that appeared open was not, and the only way open was the one way she would never go.

Rougea breathed deeply and swallowed. There was no other chance—but no, the water was too dark, too cold, too deep. She would surely suffocate, lose her senses and drown. There was no hope, no chance of escape. She might as well go back in, lie down, go to sleep…surrender….

Rougea spun, ran, and jumped, arcing into the water before she could reconsider her actions. She had breathed in deeply, filling her lungs to capacity, but then that cold water was all around her, black and hard, her face and hands still singing from her dive. Dive, splash, panicked leap—right now, they all just about described her.

Rougea opened her mouth to gasp, and cold water rushed in. She surfaced, spluttered, coughed out, her arms churning the water. Great. She'd lost all momentum. She would have to get out again—

Yes! Warm land.

But if she left the water, she'd never get back in. Rougea breathed deeply against and forced herself under, keeping her limbs from flailing every which way. She breathed again, coughing again, and pushed herself under. With eyes stinging from the water, she kicked off, towards the white of the waterfall and there, behind it, the darkness of the tunnel.

No, not in something so dark and close and wet.

Rougea shook her head and focused on the waterfall. It churned a good three feet of water into white froth, but there was clear, dark water around it. She fought towards the margin and took hold of something dark and smooth. Tree roots, from the willows above. Rougea moved forward, muscles straining, moving handhold by handhold, the current beating against her, tugging at her shirt and hair.

She closed her eyes, climbing forward, clinging to the tree roots with fingers braced like iron talons. Then the current was lessening, then it was gone. Finally she could surface.

No, there was still the tunnel. Rougea opened her eyes and forced herself towards its dark entrance, her throat tightening. She pushed herself into the tunnel, muscles trembling, and she felt her way along the narrow tunnel. Now it wasn't just her throat burning but her lungs as well. Her air was running out, running out fast, and the water was so close, pressing in on her, her hands, her face, her nose, her lips, her eyes, threatening to rush in as soon as she opened her tightly-pursed lips.

Rougea clutched at the rocks, pulling herself through, her legs thrashing the tunnel sides. Her heart was heavy, her pulse pounded in her temples. Rougea lunged forward. 'Just one more step. Come on, just one more, one more…'


End file.
